President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra tested positive for COVID-19 amid a new wave of infections in the U.S. Although the exact variant they have is unknown, experts suggest that the latest strains are no more dangerous than earlier ones.
Biden, who is 81, has mild upper respiratory symptoms and is taking the antiviral medication Paxlovid. This marks the third time Biden has contracted COVID-19 while in office. Becerra, 66, also announced his positive test and continues to work remotely.
The new omicron variant, KP.3, has recently become dominant, partly due to Americans gathering indoors during heat waves, as noted by infectious disease expert Amesh Adalja from Johns Hopkins University.
Despite the increase in cases, this variant has not led to a significant rise in hospitalizations or deaths, as it remains as virulent as previous strains. Both KP.3 and its sublineage KP.2 are responsible for 61.3% of new cases as of early July, with KP.3 accounting for 36.9% and KP.2 for 24.4%.
KP.3 has rapidly become the predominant variant, overtaking other strains such as KP.2 and JN.1, rising from 2% of cases in mid-April to a much higher percentage in recent months. The increase in COVID-19 cases has also led to a rise in test positivity rates and emergency room visits. However, the number of deaths has only seen a marginal increase of less than 1%.
Experts, including Paul Offit from the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, emphasize that the virus remains fundamentally the same, with the variants evolving mainly in the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein.
This means individuals who have been vaccinated or previously infected in the last four to six months are likely to experience only mild symptoms. The continuous evolution of the virus is expected, but the basic nature of COVID-19 has not changed.
For those with severe symptoms, there are now more treatments available, such as antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. High-risk individuals are advised to continue taking precautions despite the advancements in treatment.
The situation today is markedly different from the early days of the pandemic when there were fewer medical tools available. Nonetheless, infections in vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, are still taken very seriously.
